“I can, but I can’t work with anyone in China. I don’t speak Chinese. I need someone who speaks English.”
“Why?”
“We need to work together. I can’t code from here with someone there and not communicate.”
Chen nodded, then returned to the phone, saying, “He can do it from here if we build a bridge. But he needs someone who speaks English. Is that possible?”
He heard, “Stand by,” then silence. Two minutes later, his control was back, saying, “Yes. We have someone. In fact, this works better. We’ll have him engineer the system with another American working for us on artificial intelligence. It’ll separate us from the product. Can he do it from where you are?”
Chen looked at Jake cowering in the chair and said, “I think so. It’ll depend on your man.”
“My man is the best America has to offer. You set it up and he’ll work the problem.”
“Okay, but the MANTIS meeting is the day after tomorrow with the NCIST contact. Time is short. Is your man available now?”
“He will be. Let me work it. Is Bobcat up to the task?”
Chen leaned back in his chair, his eyes on Jake Shu. He said, “He had better be, or we have no more use for him.”
Jake put his head in his hands, and Chen heard, “Good. We have one more issue, though.”
Chen heard the change in Control’s tenor, the words holding an ominous tone, making him wonder what was coming next.
He said, “Another issue? On top of everything else? What is it?”
“I told you that the Triads were eliminating the threat against Ocelot, and that is a good thing. But unfortunately, it leaves us with a loose end. The Bamboo Triad has outlived its usefulness. Its head, the Snow Leopard, needs to go. He is now a risk, and he is done.”
Chen took a breath and then said, “Wait a minute. You want me to initiate MANTIS using assets in China, eliminate the man hunting Ocelot, and also eliminate Leopard? Is that what you’re saying?”
“Yes. That is exactly what I’m saying.”
Chen said, “Sir, I’m not sure I can do all of that. Why Leopard? He’s done nothing but help.”
“He’s a risk. We don’t pick our missions. We just execute. We are the Fifth Bureau, and this is from the highest levels. Let him eliminate the threat to Ocelot, and then kill him. Is that a problem?”
Chen paused, thinking. He tried to alter the mission set, saying, “Not operationally. But it will put me in a bind for manpower.”
“You have the men coming tonight. Check the target package, and if he’s dead tomorrow morning, take Leopard off the board. Then initiate MANTIS. It’s not that hard.”
“What if the target against Ocelot is still breathing tomorrow?”
“Then do them both.”
Incredulous, Chen said, “Sir, we have no cover here. I can’t just start killing people. We’ll last about twenty-four hours before we’re rolled up.”
Control’s voice grew cold. “Twenty-four hours is all we need. Leopard is a risk, and Ocelot is in danger. MANTIS is going to happen, and you will make it so. Do you understand?”
Chen took a breath, looking at Zhi. She gave him her dead eyes back and he said, “I understand. I will make it happen.”
Chapter 78
Inside his small apartment, Jerry Tribble took a sip of his beer, then returned to watching an unauthorized Hulu video on his company-issued laptop, getting more satisfaction from beating the Chinese censors than from the recorded reality show.
The screen blanked out and he saw the blonde bikini avatar beckoning him with her finger, shimmering left and right to a music beat he couldn’t hear.
What the hell. This is getting annoying. They know better than to contact me here.
She disappeared, the Hulu show resuming.
He knew as long as he didn’t type anything on the system—transmit anything on his issued computer—he would remain clean. But he couldn’t ignore the alert. Whatever they wanted to ask, they wanted it done in private. The only question now was how he was going to access his workstation at this time of night.
He leaned back, then checked his watch. It was closing in on 9 p.m. in Beijing, which meant it was not even six in the morning at his office.
Who is calling me at the crack of dawn?
It had to be something important.
He stood up, packing his work bag, trying to figure out how he would be able to penetrate his office complex at this time of night, when his corporate phone rang. He stared at it on the table, afraid to answer, wondering if the two were connected. It bleated and bleated, and he finally picked it up.
“Hello? Jerry?”
Jerry said nothing for a half-second, wanting to throw the phone into the street, sure that the contact on his computer had something to do with the call now. Wanting more than anything to leave Beijing.
He finally said, “This is Jerry. What’s up? Why the late-night call?”
“We’ve had an issue come up, and you’re the only one who can fix it. We need you to come into the office tonight.”
He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. They needed him to come in?
Perfect.
He said, “I’m on my way.”
Twenty minutes later he was in Yuan Bo’s small office, with Han Ming behind the desk, Yuan Bo sitting next to him.
Han said, “You remember that work you did for us with the videos?”
“Yes. Of course. We’ve been through this already.”
“We have some more work for you. A little bit of artificial intelligence research, but it needs to be done swiftly.”
Jerry glanced at Yuan, wary of the direction the conversation had taken. He said, “Who is the work for?”
“For me. Here, in China, but the data is from an American company. It is in Taiwan, but the American there does not have enough computing power. I need you to build a bridge to him and work with him to manipulate the data.”
“What’s the data? What am I supposed to do with it?”
“It’s an artificial intelligence algorithm that’s tracking our exercises here on the mainland. We want to manipulate what it sees, but we want to control when that manipulation occurs.”
Incredulous, Jerry said, “Why would you want to do that? What’s the purpose?”
Han held up a palm. “You don’t need to know the why.”
Jerry wasn’t stupid. There was only one reason they would want to interfere with the data of the defense systems in Taiwan. And it wasn’t a gag gift for someone’s birthday, like he’d been told about the videos.
The thought made him queasy. He tried to beg off, saying, “But how am I supposed to help? I haven’t even seen the data. This isn’t like building a Lego toy set.”
Han said, “I’m sure you can manage, but it would be better if the other man talked to you. This is a language I do not speak.”
Han passed across a sheet of paper with a VPN address and said, “This is his contact information. We need you to start on it right now.”
“Now? It’s nearly ten o’clock at night.”
“It is time-sensitive. He’s waiting on your contact.”
Jerry took the paper, saying, “And the payment?”